Law and regulation

When experiments in lending are properly organized and priced, they can be successful for borrowers and lenders of all income groups, even in tough times.

Shareholders and regulators are on the warpath against executive compensation they regard as excessive or poorly structured. Senior bankers and directors, like their colleagues elsewhere in the corporate world, are struggling to design pay plans that encourage managers to innovate while discouraging excessive risk-taking. Further complicating the task are the sometimes competing agendas of investors and rule-makers, as well as the uncertainty surrounding the many Dodd-Frank pay rules yet to be written. Following is a look at some of hot-button items shaping executive compensation during the current proxy season.

Rather than worrying about carving up a depressed purchase market, policymakers should be looking for ways to ensure that creditworthy borrowers have access to homeownership.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he will announce new enforcement actions against major financial institutions as part of his effort to "protect New York homeowners."

CtW Investment Group, a union-backed organization that owns roughly six million shares of JPMorgan Chase, has called on shareholders to vote against three directors on the risk policy committee and the head of the audit committee. The move was reported Friday by The New York Times.

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A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Credit unions have joined community banks with the common thought that they should not be subject to CFPB regulations.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Daniel Tarullo said Friday that he was still concerned about ongoing risks from banks' potential overreliance on short-term wholesale funding, but suggested one possible remedy: higher capital requirements.

U.S. prosecutors are pursuing guilty pleas, criminal convictions and "significant monetary penalties" from banks and their employees in the global investigation into the rigging of benchmark interest rates, a senior Justice Department official said.

Experts say the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau backed away from stiffer requirements after two powerful consumer groups raised fears that they would drive small banks and credit unions out of the remittance business.

The House banking panel is scheduled to consider a host of derivatives bills next week, a debate that could spur momentum in the charge to amend some of the Dodd-Frank law's provisions.

Groups opposing the Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. multibillion-dollar settlement of swipe-fee price-fixing claims won't be held in contempt by a federal judge for failing to fully correct websites he found misleading.

The Texas Bankers Association has selected Ignacio Urrabazo, the chief executive of Commerce Bank in Laredo, to become its new chairman.

Finding the right pay formula is a messy business. Leave it to shareholders and the market to sort out.

More lenders are willing to make second-lien loans because of hot demand and greater yield, even as regulators warn against risks in the leveraged-lending market.

Sometimes the line between prudent bank security and excessive caution is a blurry one. The Onion offers some unique ways to protect your bank data, including beating your computer to bits with a pipe wrench.

Qiwi Plc, an instant-payment operator, is seeking to raise as much as $244 million selling shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market, the second initial public offering by a Russian company this year.

President Obama has nominated Penny Pritzker to head the Commerce Department, overlooking her role in the costly failure of Superior Bank.